(201) Magazine Blogs

Monday, June 30, 2014

Busy week again for the Rangers, most notably for the free agent market opening Tuesday at noon.

Today marks the opening of the Rangers week-long prospect camp for draftees and free agents. It’ll be the first time to get a first-hand look at six of the seven players selected at this weekend’s NHL Draft (not Russian goalie Igor Shestyorkin), including second-rounder Brandon Halverson, also a goalie.

Notable prospects D Brady Skjei - who the organization would like to see turn pro - and Anthony Duclair - who is going back for another season of junior hockey - will be in attendance.

Second-rounder (2012) Boo Nieves is not listed on the camp roster after a disappointing sophomore season at Michigan (now my second favorite college after Syracuse with daughter No. 1 headed there this fall). Could be Nieves is doing summer course work but will check.

Also, please note on your 2014-15 NHL schedule the Rangers home game against the Hurricanes has been switched to Oct. 16 at 7 p.m. Originally, the game was scheduled for Oct. 17.

Saturday, June 28, 2014

Rangers GM Glen Sather provided a realistic assessment on the Rangers’ chances of retaining all their free agents after the team made its seven selections in rounds 2-7 Saturday at the Wells Fargo Center.

To paraphrase, they’re not good, and that was even before Sather said the NHL general managers were taken somewhat by surprise by the salary cap being set at $69 million instead of the previously expected $70 million.

“We already traded one guy (Derek Dorsett) to give us some relief,” Sather said. “We didn’t know then but we had a real good idea that it wasn’t going to be $70 million so we had to make some room. We’ll see what happens here in the next week.

“I’d like to have everyone back,” Sather added. “Realistically I think it’s going to be complicated for the two reasons I said: One, the cap is not going up and the other one is where we ended up at the end of the year (in the Stanley Cup Final).

“We didn’t win so I think, realistically, some of these guys have got to pull the horns in a little bit,” Sather said.

That would be Derick Brassard ($3.7 million QO); Chris Kreider ($850,500); Mats Zuccarello ($1.15 million); John Moore ($850,500). Other than Brassard, it’s unlikely that those qualifying offers will be accepted. Most likely, even Brassard will look to get a better deal.
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The Rangers have concluded their 2014 NHL Draft here in Philadelphia. They entered with four picks, with no first-rounder, and wound up making seven selections in rounds 2-5 - two goalies, two forwards and three defensemen.

They made two trades to collect their extra picks, first trading a third-round pick (No. 89) to the Capitals for two fourth-rounders (Nos. 104 and 118), then trading a fourth-rounder (No. 119) to the Lightning for two fifth-rounders (Nos. 140 and 142).

“We’ve always had the philosophy we don’t want to take anybody if we think he’s just going to be a backup someday, it has to be a No. 1,” Rangers Director of Player Personnel Gordie Clark said of selecting two goalies. “And it’s really been the first year where we really thought there were four or five of them. In the end it was the best player available. These guys they’re four five six years away from probably being at the NHL level and that fits in pretty good for us.”

Franchise goalie Henrik Lundqvist will be starting a seven-year, $59.5 million deal in 2014-15.

Without getting a potential impact player in the first round, Clark said all seven draft picks are probably on the four-to-six year timeline before being an NHL possibility.

“For the NHL? No,” Clark said when asked if anybody of the picks were closer than four years. “A couple of ’94 kids, Nejezchleb he’s a ’94, he’s a very skilled Czech kid that’s been in Brandon, playing a gritty junior game up there. He was one of the leading scorers on their team. He’s closer to say turning pro. Walcott is a little older too, he’s an offensive D but he’d be looking at an over-age year in junior. It was actually his first year in junior this year, he came out of nowhere. It was a little up and down for him but our guys stayed on him and at that point with the last two we were looking for some skill. We’ve got a left shot and a right shot, some high skill, Nanne is a high skilled right-handed shot defenseman.”
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The Rangers have picked center Keegan Iverson from Portland of the Western Hockey League in the third round with the 85th pick.

Iverson, 6-foot, 216 pounds, plays a physically intimidating game and scouting reports also note a quick, if sometimes inaccurate shot.

He had 22 goals, 20 assists and 70 penalty minutes in 67 games for Portland.

Iverson’s path to being selected is somewhat unusual. From St. Louis Park, Minn. Iverson chose to play Canadian junior hockey, moving away from home.

Like second-round pick goalie Brandon Halverson, Iverson is not in Philadelphia.

The Rangers traded their other third-round pick (No. 89) to the Capitals for two fourth-round picks (Nos. 104 and 118). The Rangers now have three picks coming in the fourth round along with No. 119 and a fifth-round pick (No. 122).
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The Rangers have selected goalie Brandon Halverson with their first pick in the NHL Draft, at No. 59 at the end of the second round.

Chatting with Rangers director of player personnel Gordie Clark earlier this week, I asked him about goalie Scott Stajcer, a fifth-round pick in 2009 plagued by hip problems and whether he would return to the organization next season.

Clark said he wasn’t sure but that led to a discussion on drafting goalies.

“I don’t have a problem taking them as long as we feel there’s a guy we feel can be a No. 1,” Clark said. “We were able to get Cam Talbot as a free agent and he might have been the best backup in the league. Those you can find. When you do it with a pick it’s someone you think can be a legitimate No. 1 or there’s no sense.”

The 6-foot-4, 179-pound Halverson, from Traverse City, Mich. went 12-6-1 with a 2.96 goals-against average and a .904 save percentage for Sault Ste. Marie in the Ontario Hockey League.

The Rangers now four picks remaining today: two third rounders (Nos. 85 and 89) in addition a fourth-rounder (119) and fifth-rounder (122).

Halverson is not in Philadelphia attending the draft. But he did react via his Twitter account, “Cant even explain this feeling. So unbelievably thankful to be selected by the @NYRangers 59th overall. Thanks to everyone that got me here.”

Friday, June 27, 2014

The Rangers do not have a selection in tonight’s first round as the NHL Draft commences here at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia at 7 p.m.

But they now have an extra pick for Saturday, when rounds 2-7 will be conducted starting at 10 a.m.

The Rangers have traded fourth-line right wing Derek Dorsett, due to count $1.6 million against the salary cap (which was announce this afternoon as $69 million, a lower number than teams probably hoped, with a salary-cap floor of $51 million and a midpoint of $60 million), to the Canucks for a third-round pick in this year’s draft (No. 85).

The Rangers now have two picks in the third round (Nos. 85 and 89) in addition to a second-rounder (No. 59), fourth-rounder (119) and fifth-rounder (122).

Dorsett, 27, had four goals, four assists and 128 penalty minutes in 51 games last season. The Rangers initially acquired Dorsett along with Derick Brassard and John Moore for Marian Gaborik on April 3, 2013.

Dorsett’s departure could mean the Rangers are contemplating - or planning to - bringing back Dan Carcillo. Or, the Rangers are trying to save every penny they can against the cap to re-sign some of their own, namely defenseman Anton Stralman while also creating more cap room for Chris Kreider, Mats Zuccarello and Benoit Pouliot.
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Heading down to Philadelphia Friday morning for the two-day NHL Draft, which commences Friday night at 7 with the first round and continues Saturday at 10 a.m. with rounds 2-7.

Was out of the loop big time on Thursday due to a great family day - the graduation doubleheader, the big girl from high school and the younger one from middle school on her way to high school.

On Wednesday, I caught up with Rangers Director of Player Personnel Gordie Clark to talk about the upcoming draft and the progress of some of the Rangers’ top prospects.

Barring a trade - the Rangers have four picks: a second-rounder (No. 59), a third-rounder (No. 89), a fourth-rounder (No. 119) and a fifth-rounder (No. 122). This year’s first-rounder (No. 28) went to the Lightning in the Ryan Callahan-Marty St. Louis swap, becoming a first-rounder when the Rangers reached the Eastern Conference Final. With Callahan re-signing with the Lightning, the Rangers will get Tampa Bay’s second round pick in 2015 while the Lightning will have the Rangers’ first- and seventh-round picks.

“It’s hard because even though it’s four, you obviously have to make hay with your first pick,” Clark said of this year’s draft for the Rangers. “That’s an important pick, those players usually play. [But] I don’t miss the first-round pick or picking late in each round because the trade was a big part of us getting to the Stanley Cup Final.”

But Clark said this year’s draft was not particularly deep and he expected only the top 15 picks would likely yield impact players.

Clark said the Rangers would pick based on best available talent due to their late draft position rather than try to address specific needs.

Clark also said there was little chance of the Rangers being able to trade into the first round given their late selections in each round other than the fifth.
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Wednesday, June 25, 2014

With this morning’s news that Ryan Callahan has agreed to a six-year extension with the Lightning worth $34.8 million, an annual salary-cap hit of $5.8 million, all the conditions of the March 5 trade that sent Callahan to Tampa Bay and brought Marty St. Louis to the Rangers are now complete.

The Rangers will receive the Lightning’s second-round pick in the 2015 draft as the result of Callahan re-signing and the Rangers will send next year’s seventh-round pick to Tampa Bay. The Rangers also sent their first-round picks in 2014 and 2015 to the Lightning as part of the trade. Initially, it was a conditional second-round pick in 2014 that became a first-round selection (No. 28) once the Rangers reached the Eastern Conference Final.

In addition to his money, Callahan gets the no-movement clause he sought from the Rangers - who reportedly offered six years, $36 million before trading Callahan because the sides could not reach an agreement on a contract extension. Callahan has a no-movement clause for the first four seasons of the deal and then a limited no-trade clause for the duration of the contract.

Callahan will be back at the Garden with the Lightning on Nov. 17 and Dec. 1 while the Rangers play at Tampa Bay on Nov. 26.

While Callahan, on the surface, took less money to stay with the Lightning that he was offered to stay with the Rangers, Florida’s lack of state income tax must be factored in.

“I couldn’t be happier to be part of the Tampa Bay Lightning organization for the next six years and I am excited for this new chapter of my career,” Callahan said in a statement released by the Lightning. “Tampa Bay has been a great place to live and play from the day I got there. As soon as the season ended I knew it was a place I wanted to be.”
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Dominic Moore became the first Ranger to be named the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy winner since Adam Graves in 2001 when he was handed the hardware tonight at the NHL Awards Show in Las Vegas.

Moore, 33, was nominated for the award by the New York Rangers chapter of the Professional Hockey Writers Association.

The Masterton Trophy is awarded annually to the NHL player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to ice hockey. It is often awarded to a player who has come back from career– or even life-threatening illness or injury.

But Moore did not win the Masterton tonight because his wife, Katie, passed away from a rare form of liver cancer.

The journeyman Rangers center was awarded the Masterton as a result of his actions and contributions to both hockey and society since Katie Moore died at age 32 on Jan. 9, 2013.

Moore was the perfect personification of the perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to the sport that the Masterton honors. And that’s to take nothing away from the other two finalists, the Devils’ Jaromir Jagr and the Hurricanes’ Manny Malhotra, both of whom also have displayed those qualities.

“I really appreciate and feel very grateful for this award,” Moore said in accepting the Masterton. “It’s an award I have a ton of respect for. Perseverance is something I’ve tried to bring to my life, throughout my life and perseverance is also something that doesn’t happen on your own, it is a team thing, so I’d like to thank my family, my friends, the Rangers’ organization, my teammates. I’ve had a lot of good examples of perseverance over the years and none so much as my wife, Katie. So this is award is very meaningful and I’m very grateful.”

Moore comported himself with such dignity this season after taking the 2013 season off to grieve for his late wife. He made an impact on the ice for the Rangers as they reached the Stanley Cup Final and positively influenced his teammates.

Moore scored six goals with 12 assists in 73 regular-season games - admittedly it took him a couple of months to play himself back into the rhythm he lost due to his time away from the game. He three goals and five assists in 25 playoff games as the Rangers reached the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 1994.

He spoke, from time to time, about his wife’s death. But Moore also made it clear his No.1 intention was to help the Rangers, not to overshadow the team with his wife’s story.

And through his work with the Katie Moore Foundation, including his summer Ping-Pong tournament in Toronto for charity, Moore is helping raise research funds so others might not have to go through what he did.

In short, Moore is everything the Masterton represents.

Moore, who has played for nine franchises since his rookie season with the Rangers in 2005-06, is once again an unrestricted free agent. He has expressed his desire to return and, given how well his fourth line with fellow UFA Brian Boyle and Derek Dorsett/UFA Dan Carcillo played, allowing coach Alain Vigneault to roll four lines as he prefers, it would behoove the Rangers to re-sign him.

The Stars’ Rick Peverley presented the award to Moore. On March 10, Peverley collapsed on the Stars’ bench in a game against the Blue Jackets due to a cardiac issue and had to be resuscitated by the team’s medical staff. He missed the rest of the season and it’s unclear whether Peverley will be able to continue his NHL career.

Moore is the fifth Ranger to receive the Masterton since it was first awarded following the 1967-68 season, joining Jean Ratelle (1971), Rod Gilbert (1976), Anders Hedberg (1985), and Graves. The Montreal Canadiens are the only organization other than the Rangers to have five recipients of the trophy.
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The three-year renovation project of Madison Square Garden left that building unavailable for preseason games the past three seasons. In 2011, the Rangers played a home-and-home with the Devils, with one game being in Albany, N.Y. before completing their preseason schedule (and starting their regular-season) in Europe.

In 2012, of course, the preseason was wiped out by the lockout. Last season, the Rangers played road preseason games against the Devils and Flyers before heading West to face the Oilers, Flames, Canucks and Kings in Las Vegas, plus have a three-day training camp in Banff, Alberta.

As with individual regular-season game tickets, tickets for the preseason games will go on sale in September on a yet-to-be-determined date.
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About

ANDREW GROSS covers the New York Rangers for The Record and Herald News, having joined the North Jersey Media Group in November 2007. Gross also covered the Rangers and New York Jets, as well as St. John’s basketball and Army football, for Gannett Newspapers and The Journal News (N.Y.). He graduated from Syracuse University in 1989 with a degree in newspaper journalism.